Qualifying report

Formula E Punta del Este ePrix

Punta ePrix: Di Grassi on pole, but under investigation

Lucas di Grassi provisionally scored his first Formula E pole position of the 2017/18 season in Punta del Este, but is under investigation.

Jamie Klein

Edited: Mar 17, 2018, 6:48 PM

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Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

The Audi driver was one of three drivers in Super Pole to attract the attention of the stewards for cutting the Turn 14/15 chicane and hitting the bollard, along with Oliver Turvey and Alex Lynn.

Reigning champion di Grassi posted a 1m13.948s to beat DS Virgin driver Lynn, who damaged his front wing by clouting the bollard on his 200kW lap, for the top spot by 0.241s.

Mitch Evans was third-fastest for Jaguar, albeit nearly half a second slower than Lynn - but fastest of those to avoid hitting the bollard - after brushing the barriers on his fastest lap.

NIO driver Turvey was fourth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, who topped the group stages with a blistering time of 1m13.672s but was slowest in Super Pole after making a mistake at the first chicane and damaging his Techeetah car against the wall.

Quickest of those missing out on a place in Super Pole was Santiago winner Daniel Abt, who missed out on a spot in the top five by 0.043s after setting only the third-best time in group three.

Abt will start sixth, ahead of leading Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi, Techeetah's Andre Lotterer, Venturi's Maro Engel and the second DS Virgin car of Sam Bird, who in his own words had a "woeful" first sector on his 200kW lap.

Title contender Felix Rosenqvist also struggled after clipping the barriers on his hot lap in the final group, the Mahindra driver ending up down in 14th place.

Starting at the back will be three drivers who crashed out in the group stages: Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nicolas Prost.

Heidfeld caused a red flag in the third group when he buried his Mahindra in the barriers at the Turn 17/18 chicane; Prost broke his steering on a bollard and then hit the wall at Turn 14/15 in his Renault e.dams car in the second group, and Piquet crashed his Jaguar at Turn 10/11 in the final group.

Qualifying results:

Pos.DriverTeamTimeGap 1 brazil Lucas di Grassi germany Team Abt 1'13.948 2 united_kingdom Alex Lynn Virgin Racing 1'14.189 0.241 3 new_zealand Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing 1'14.640 0.692 4 Oliver Turvey china NIO Formula E Team 1'14.978 1.030 5 france Jean-Eric Vergne china Techeetah 1'16.806 2.858 Super Pole cut-off: 1'14.181 6 germany Daniel Abt germany Team Abt 1'14.224 0.276 7 switzerland Sébastien Buemi france DAMS 1'14.320 0.372 8 germany Andre Lotterer china Techeetah 1'14.442 0.494 9 germany Maro Engel monaco Venturi 1'14.523 0.575 10 united_kingdom Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1'14.552 0.604 11 argentina Jose Maria Lopez united_states Dragon Racing 1'14.605 0.657 12 belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1'14.673 0.725 13 portugal Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Autosport 1'14.973 1.025 14 sweden Felix Rosenqvist india Mahindra Racing 1'15.104 1.156 15 italy Luca Filippi china NIO Formula E Team 1'15.444 1.496 16 italy Edoardo Mortara monaco Venturi 1'15.493 1.545 17 united_kingdom Tom Blomqvist united_states Andretti Autosport 1'16.424 2.476 18 germany Nick Heidfeld india Mahindra Racing 1'31.701 17.753 19 brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar Racing 1'42.656 28.708 20 france Nicolas Prost france DAMS 1'53.358 39.410

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